Chase Bank limits cash withdrawals; bans international wire transfers

Update (Oct. 20, 2013)

The situation is not as bleak as originally reported.

A Forbes article by Halah Touryalai has new information. Although Chase Bank is instituting restrictions (no international wire transfers; withdrawals and deposits of no more than $50k a month) on small business checking accounts, small business accounts can exceed the $50k limit if they pay more in monthly fees by upgrading to Chase’s Performance Business Checking where there’s no cash activity limit and international wires are available for an additional fee.

The Forbes reporter’s conclusion is that the changes instituted by Chase “are more about Chase looking to generate more revenue from fees than an attempt to control capital.”

The source of my post below is an article by Mike Adams for Natural News. In his defense, Adams did contact Chase for an explanation but was given none. In the absence of the info that Chase instead provided Forbes, I don’t fault Adams for his conclusion that what Chase is doing is a form of capital control.

In the end, this is good news. Mike Adams’ and, by extension, FOTM’s mistake is an honest one. We made no mistakes in what we reported, but in what we omitted — but that omission was an honest one, due to lack of an important piece of information.

~Eowyn

The Great Cyprus Bank Robbery earlier this year was our first wake-up call.

If you recall, indebted up to its eyeballs, Cyprus’ government made a deal with their Eurozone financial masters to confiscate steal 80% of “large” bank deposits.

Tyler Durden of ZeroHedge warned us that when bankrupt insolvent governments “run out of fingers to plug the dikes,” history shows that they fall back on a very limited playbook. Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog enumerated 8 steps in the playbook of bankrupt governments:

Chase, one of the Big Four banks in the United States just instituted capital controls by:

banning international wire transfers; and

Limiting banking transactions, including cash withdrawals, to no more than $50,000 “per statement cycle,” which effectively means per month.

The above capital controls will go into effect in about a month, on November 17, 2013.

Chase bank is a national bank that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the multinational banking corporation JPMorgan Chase. The bank was known as Chase Manhattan Bank until it merged with J.P. Morgan & Co. in 2000. (See also “Red Star over JPMorgan’s One Chase Manhattan“)

I called my own accounting team to ask if we had received a similar letter from Chase, announcing that no international wire transfers would be allowed after Nov. 17th. Sure enough, we were sent the same letter! […]

The letter clearly states that beginning November 17:• All international wire transfers will be disallowed.• All cash activity, including cash withdrawals and deposits, will be halted at “$50,000 per statement cycle.” How are businesses who deal with a lot of cash (such as restaurants) supposed to function under such restrictions?

Adams then called Chase bank to ask why these capital controls were being implemented on November 17th. Their response was that these changes were being implemented “to better serve our customers.” They did not explain how blocking all international wire transfers would “better serve” their customers. Chase bank specifically denied any knowledge of problems with cash on hand, or government debt or any such issue. They downplayed the entire issue and had no answers for why capital controls are suddenly being put into place.

Adams concludes:

This is the beginning of the capital controls we’ve been warning about for years. Throughout history, when governments are on the brink of financial default, they begin limiting capital controls in exactly the way we are seeing here. Following that, governments typically seize government pension funds, meaning the outright theft of pensions for cops, government workers, etc., is probably just around the corner.

Finally, the last act of desperation by governments facing financial default is to seize private funds from banks, Cyprus-style. The precedent for this has already been set in Cyprus, and when that happened, I was among many who openly predicted it would spread to the United States.

This is happening, folks! The capital controls begin on November 17th. The bank runs may follow soon thereafter. Chase Bank is now admitting that you cannot use your own money that you’ve deposited there.

This is clearly stemming from a government policy that is requiring banks to prevent cash from leaving the United States. Such policies are only put into place when a huge financial default event is expected.

When the dictator decides to do his money grab, no bank will be safe, no 401K or IRA will be safe, any gold or silver bought under a registered trade is not safe. Why do you think everyone and his brother have signs out saying we buy gold for cash. People think about this one for a second before you sell. They offer you a rate well below market value pay you in deflated cash. What is an ounce of gold or silver worth? What is the dollar worth on the market? Are you really making a good deal? When the economy collaspes that gold or silver will be your livelyhood not worthless paper money. Hide it in a safe place where only you know where it is. Do not put it in a bank because it will be lost in the money grab. What looks like a rainbow today can cause a disaster in the future for your well being.

Thank you, T. Adams, for the link. The Forbes article by Halah Touryalai does not contradict this post: Indeed, Chase Bank *is* instituting these restrictions (no international wire transfers; withdrawals and deposits of no more than $50k a month) on small business checking accounts. In the words of the Forbes’ article:

The bank’s basic business account, Chase Total Business Checking, does not allow outgoing international wire transfers (it does allow them to come in) and cash activity is indeed limited to $50,000 per month. Cash activity means withdrawals and deposits.

What Natural News (the source of this post) omitted is this:

Small business accounts can exceed the $50k limit if they pay more in monthly fees by upgrading to Chase’s Performance Business Checking where there’s no cash activity limit. Plus, you get two domestic wires transfers per month at no charge and international wires are available for an additional fee.

The Forbes reporter’s conclusion is that the changes instituted by Chase “are more about Chase looking to generate more revenue from fees than an attempt to control capital.”

In Natural News’ defense, its writer Mike Adams did contact Chase for an explanation but was given none. In the absence of the info that was provided to Forbes’ reporter, I don’t fault Adams for his conclusion that what Chase is doing is a form of capital control.

In the end, this is good news, and I thank you for it. But I can really do without your at once melodramatic and supercilious exclamation of “Sigh”. Mike Adams’ and, by extension, FOTM’s mistake is an honest one. We made no mistakes in what we reported, but in what we omitted — but that omission was an honest one, due to lack of information.

I think it warranted the sigh. It was so easy to find not only an article about the situation but the actual Chase business account information itself. My skepticism was raised when I noticed it was a small business account that was the subject matter.

This is how untrue rumors get fired up and I think everyone needs to be careful about not propagating them. They do no good and can do a lot of damage.

Look I can tell you for a fact that Chase is not allowing international wire transfers for even personal accounts. I live in Italy and am paid in the US. I was unable to perform a wire transfer to pay my landlord here. They say they are in the process of fixing this but it hasn’t been resolved in over a month.